No building will be erected at the historically significant Annie’s Bay for a planned Google sub-sea cable, a town hall meeting was told tonight.

Google is planning to run a new submarine communications cable, called Nuvem, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Sesimbra, Portugal.

Two branches will come ashore in Bermuda at different landing points — one at Annie’s Bay, St David’s, and the other at Devonshire Bay.

It had raised fears that a new structure could be erected at Annie’s Bay. But at the town hall meeting held at the Open Door Christian Assembly, in St David’s, residents were told that would not happen.

David Robles, Google’s global sub-sea construction lead, said: “The first thing that I am going to get out of the way is dispelling the story that we are building a structure in Annie’s Bay.

“That is a misperception of the announcement. There really is no structure that will be built at Annie’s Bay, so that was a misconception that we need to clear up straight away.”

He said a landing point was not the same as a cable landing station. A landing point, he said, was the co-ordinates for where the submarine cable comes up and meets the shore.

At Annie’s Bay a manhole exists where cables to Bermuda are already landing. It will be the same at Devonshire Bay, Mr Robles said.

He added that the Sub Marine Communications Cables Act established cable protection zones, which define where submarine cables can be landed — which are Annie’s Bay and Devonshire Bay.

The manhole at Annie’s Bay contains a joint where the submarine cable comes in and joins to land cables, which lead to the existing GlobeNet station, near the private airport.

“Unfortunately, it is too small for what we want to do for the long-term growth plans so to future-proof this project we need more space,” added Mr Robles.

Google is looking at land between the Southside police station and the Lamb Foggo Urgent Care Centre to build a cable landing station. If it goes ahead, the building will be 50,000 sq ft in size.

It is from this building that, in the future, cables to other countries could be hooked up to the Nuvem cable, making Bermuda an internet hub.

Mr Robles said: “This is a target property. We have not acquired it. It is still being discussed with the Bermuda Land Development Company. I would not want to give the impression that this is a done deal.”

Google’s target is to have the system operational in 2026, with ground broken on the cable landing station by mid-2024.

The area is zoned as mixed-use and designated as a technology park.

He said Google did not plan to use all the earmarked land for the building, with some space left for solar to use as much renewable energy as possible.

“We like the fact that it is near St George’s Harbour as that will lend itself to easier transport of materials,” he added.

The site is home to a dirt track for remote-controlled cars, and Mr Robles said: “We know that it is a popular site so our intent — and we have already been reaching out to the club owner — our hope is to sponsor a new track at a different location, something new and improved.

“We would like to get that operational before we break ground at the site.”

He added it was early days for the Annie’s Bay plans and that “it is even earlier days for Devonshire Bay”.

Mr Robles said they needed to get the cable’s capacity from the landing site at Devonshire to the cable landing station in St David’s.

“We will avoid digging up the roads to the greatest extent possible and find available fibre to St David’s is a top priority.”

He added: “The two have to go together to make the project work — for two reasons, one of which is resiliency. If one of those branches gets cut by anything we want to maintain connectivity through the other branch.”

Mr Robles added: “We are still at the very early stages of this project development, so there may be a perception that we have ploughed ahead without consulting anyone and I need to make it clear that the process is starting now. This is the first of what will be several public engagements.

“Our first conversation with the Government was only in August. So we are at early days yet. Nothing has been signed by any means.

“The last thing the community wants is to be presented with a fait accompli. We really need to bring the community and the country along with us and get people excited and energised by the opportunity but also, more importantly, to make sure that people, if they have concerns or issues, that we hear those early so that plans can be adjusted and considerations can be made.”